Abstract:
This paper considers the interplay between a research and a teaching agenda within an Australian university environment. It examines the resultant challenges and tensions between my dual roles as both researcher and educator and within my writing for different audiences I articulate the complexities of power which continually emerged within teacher-researcher relationship. The paper contains aspects of my PhD research which was conducted with pre-service tertiary learner-teachers completing a drama course as a component of their Bachelor of Education degree. I will share, what I believe to be, useful insights that emerged for practitioner researchers during my work with these and subsequent groups of learner-teachers.
My research that informs this paper was located methodologically as a practitioner-led action research process within the framework of ‘third space' and arts-based research enquiry. As I was working within the realms of ‘arts-based research', I have chosen to intersperse formal ‘prosaic discourse' with storytelling, autobiographical experiences, dialogues and research poems. My intention, in using a range of writing genres, is to evoke the essence of cognitive and aesthetic responses.